Former slaughterhouse on Rathausgasse

About the building

The upper part of today's Rathausgasse was called Metzgergasse ("butchers' lane") from 1619, and at number 22 this past can still be read. The city's slaughterhouse was built here in 1769; Wikidata gives 1768 as the start of construction. Next to the building the narrow Metzgergässchen branches off. The house lies in the lower Old Town, the area between the Nydegg church and the Zytglogge clock tower that covers the founding town of 1191 to 1210 and its first extension, and is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.

For almost a century and a half, until 1914, animals were slaughtered here. After that the building served various purposes, for example as a fire brigade store and as a props store for the municipal theatre. In the early 1980s it became a venue for culture; the City of Bern gives 1982 as the start, Wikidata 1981.

Today the Schlachthaus Theater Bern performs here, which the city counts among Bern's most important stages for contemporary theatre. The neighbouring house at Rathausgasse 20, a residential building of 1554, has provided rooms for the theatre since the 1980s: a theatre shop, offices, dressing rooms and lodgings for visiting performers.

In summer and autumn 2013 the city's property company Stadtbauten Bern renovated both buildings in about four months. Lighting and sound systems were replaced, rails were added in the roof space for moving heavy equipment, and the audience received a new mobile seating stand and a foyer that can be partitioned off. In the neighbouring house the lodgings on the upper floors were improved and the bathrooms, kitchens and toilets renewed. The former slaughterhouse is a cultural property of regional importance and is classed as worthy of protection in the building inventory.

Researched and summarised by Bärn Kit. Sources: Stadt Bern, Medienmitteilung: Sanierung Schlachthaus Theater abgeschlossen (6. 11. 2013) · Wikipedia (de): Rathausgasse (Bern) · Bauinventar der Stadt Bern: Untere Altstadt, alle Adressen · Wikidata: Q29651689